I got the feeling as I was researching filmmaking that the industry is a bit flooded with people trying to make money. One guy that I watched had several minimally informative videos where he seemed to take very basic information and drag it out over quite a few minutes of film. He listed off several helpful websites that could be used but many required sign-ups or even pay for information, and I was not overwhelmed with its usefulness. One of the best tips I read was that you should select scenes that you like from other movies and use their palettes and framing concepts in your own design. While it's a bit plagiaristic in some ways, if its someone recognizable (like Alfred Hitchcock, for example, or Quinten Tarantino) then it could be seen more like a shout-out than plagiarism. You could even play off the subtle ironies of using this artist's work as inspiration.
Several tips I've heard from people good with film over the years are as follows: camera quality matters (lenses, for example, set the limits of how far in or out you can zoom; filters, like polarized filters, can remove haze and really change the lighting. Being careful with lighting is key. For example, filming during certain times of day or specifically low-light situations might require different filters, settings, or effects to be imposed on the process in order to avoid granulated images or even illegible images, as with shooting at dusk. Always move the camera very slowly and if you can use a tripod or some other sort of tracking system, that will take the walk out of your footage; however, the sloppiness or documentary-style effects of choppy editing or wobbly recording can also be used stylistically in your film to create a sensation of stark reality--just be aware of the effects and make sure you want what you are getting.
Finally, film is in many ways about the creativity of the director, but the quality of the equipment and the skill of the videographer cannot be ignored. I do not consider myself to be skilled at film, though as an artist I am often faced with the need to film my artistic process, so I see its value.
WOMAN: Ziggy, what do you have to say?
MAN: whistling "When Johnny Comes Marching Home"
BIRD: picks at feathers then peeps.
MAN: it's a Civil War song, girl
WOMAN: What did you say?
MAN: it's a Civil War song, girl
WOMAN: [types the words down]
[Time passes--cut to next scene: camera opens on Hudson v. Liverpool at the 58th minute. The score is HUD 0, LIV 1. The bird is sitting on the man's knee. The woman is writing all of this down.]
WOMAN: What are you doing?
MAN: Sending Mike a text, why?
WOMAN: Because I have to write a dialogue for my homework based on real speech, but really I didn't need to do that part of it.
MAN: I didn't want to be in you homework project but I am now.... [sighs heavily] Hey, get of of the there--get off! [Bird lands on man's lap]
MAN: No, he landed on the sofa
WOMAN: He's sitting on your lap now. By the way, this assignment sucks right now. It's weird to try and say things and write them at the same time--feels really forced and disingenuous.
MAN: [washes hands at sink]
WOMAN: This is so boring.....I need a different approach, and it feels like I'm cheating by just reading what I'm saying in the text box. Let's try this again later. I don't think I have anywhere near 750 words. (236 words, #$*^%) .
* * *
TAKE TWO:
WOMAN: Let's talk about sound
[The man has gone upstairs and closed the door. He put the bird in the cage before he left.]
WOMAN: Can it be a conversation with my previous self? Can I be in dialogue with my previous self? I attended a conference recently where a presented suggested that writers do this--find something you did that's old and then enter into a dialogue with yourself about it. Interesting.
BIRD: peep
MAN: [still absent]
TV: cheers, announcer rambling on. [Liverpool is still winning. It is the 67th minute.
WOMAN: [says silently in her own mind]: How can this conversation move my inquiry project further? I've stubbornly stuck with sound, though I've wanted to shift to something more visual for a long time. I am more generally interested in the visual as whole. I think of sound as often annoying. Sound can be an assault on your senses--but then, so can the image.
BIRD: cheep cheep cheep cheep cheep cheep cheep cheep cheep cheep cheep cheep cheep
WOMAN'S PREVIOUS SELF: [opens old discussion board and examines first posting] Reads silently: "This semester, I’d like to learn more about creating sound texts—soundscapes, sound narratives, nature recordings, etc. I have a 6-track sound recorder I got my hands on this summer and I can’t wait to try and figure it out. I’ve also had a lot of fun with film editing in the past, though I wouldn’t say it’s my strong suit. I often learn a thing or two from my students when I work in film."
WOMAN: Why am I not using this 6-track recorder more? I didn't have much luck with my last experiment. The first time I used this apparatus, I had the instructions close at hand. This seems necessary. Last time, I took the trouble to do sound walks, pinning the microphones to my clothes only to have nothing record--I think I had the device muted....huge pain.
WOMAN'S PREVIOUS SELF: [reads from previous discussion board, silently] "I learned something interesting about dolphin—did you know that not only can they use sonar to locate fish but that the fish they locate can hear the dolphin coming for them. I’d never thought of that side of it. It got me thinking about how different sound is underwater….the medium is the message, I suppose."
WOMAN: How scary those dolphin seem--like Jaws. Can you imagine if sharks really made that music when they swam? Would it help survival, I wonder, the heads up? Or would swimmers just be so paralyzed in fear that they would be easier bait; then again, if they were paralyzed, there'd be a chance the shark would not see them, since sharks tend to see movement. Wow, this is random, but maybe we are getting somewhere. Let's talk to my previous self again. What did she say? [opens old discussion board and search for file by same name;
WOMAN's PREVIOUS SELF: [read silently by WOMAN] "I think of the things I've already thought now, the way animals use sound to see--like bats and dolphins....My mind keeps returning to this medium of the ocean--perhaps because sound is likely much more important there than humans can imagine." Here we return to the ocean again. I would love to go spend some time at the ocean recording sounds. (802 words, but we have not advanced the inquiry project yet so we must go on)
WOMAN continues to type on keyboard, writing exactly what she is doing. She doesn't feel like she put her best self into the assignment and she worries that her students will end up being annoyed with what they could see as a meaningless task, but it's the woman's fault that there is no meaning. She has to put the meaning in and here's the part where it happens. She likes the idea of dialoguing with her previous self. Often we are in conflict with previous selves--or we are hung up on the successes of previous versions of us. How do we keep our minds in the now--how do we simply BE who we are without judgement, without mediation, without fear? In terms of this inquiry project, I will stick to sound, just to show my students how sticking to something can result in what I hope to be good things.
TV: [Liverpool still up 79th minutes.] blah blah blah
WOMAN; Hates recently previous self for taking the time to write blah blah blah, though there is something somewhat avant-garde about doing that that she likes. Here's some progress, she thinks, types, and does not say. I know I will not be doing film for my final project.
BIRD: really excited BEEPs--beeepbeeeepbeeep beeep beeep beeeep
Use film to enact or document something you believe will advance your inquiry. Write 250+ words describing what you did or learned in the process.
DOCUMENTATION OF SOMETHING DONE TO ADVANCE INQUIRY
Sound Organ in Croatia (played by the sea)
This organ is played by the tides. It is another example of how sound art is often connected with nature
This video features a participant walking up to and examining the sound-based sculpture known as Babel by Cildo Meireles. The sculpture is comprised of many radios which change the sounds they make, somethings playing in unison and at other times creating a cacophonous soundscape of chaos and confusion. The sculpture is installed in the Tate Modern in London. When I visited this sculpture the first time, all of the radios were tuned to play the Beatles, ":Hey Jude." On returning to the sculpture some time later, each radio was tuned to a different station. As a whole, the sculpture functions much like a 360-degree speaker.
John Cage's pianist (who doesn't play the piano for several minutes) John Cage's 4'33"
A famous piece of sound art (or even music) where the pianist comes out on stage and spends several minutes preparing to play a piece of music, adjusting himself, the papers, his glasses, and holding the position of readiness with one arm raised. The sounds of the crowd come through, people clearing their throats, coughing, fidgeting, etc. It seems they know before they should that the pianist is done playing the silence, as the applause begin at the very moment that he removes his glasses. I'm guessing this has something to do with the title of the piece being a prescribed amount of time.
Nature Sounds & the Art of the Soundscape - Creek
These soundscape videos are taking off in popularity, perhaps an electronic solution to the increasing background noise that surrounds us. This particular soundscape is one of my favorites. It is just the sound of water going by in nature, very relaxing.
This sound sculpture is also a kind of automated performance. It combines small motors with cardboard boxes to replicate what seems to me to be the sound of mass production, exportation, shipping and industry. This video takes you around the exhibition so you can observe it from several vantage points, though, naturally, it seems you would have to be there to experience the sounds as it was intended.
"The Wing" Sound Sculpture Performance
Here the artist plays an instrument created as a piece of visual art that also, because it is made of metal and shaped like a wing, manipulates sound. Here the artist operates on several planes: the performance level that we see here is the first, though the object by itself is a work of art and the sounds which can be heard apart from the image, become a sort of song.
Voiceover Describing Warhol's Blotting Technique
This is simply a video with what seems like automated narration, though the narrator could just be really bad at narrating. Andy Warhol's blotter technique is performed and described in language with the use of sound to enable a better focus on the visual process than reading subtitles would require.
If you really hate someone, you can always make them listen to this video. I can't think of many other reasons why anyone would want to play 12 hours of leaf blowers--perhaps to prevent a leaf blower from waking in the morning? In suburbia, the sound pollution caused by leaf blowers is out of control, affecting animals' ability to detect and locate predators and causing actual health effects on humans like high blood pressure, etc.
Sound of Silence by Simon and Garfunkle
A famous song of disenfranchisement, apathy and life under the tyranny of the draft, polarized politics and loss of human connection and the confidence to resist abuses of authority.
Researchers Capture Video of Antarctic Ice "Singing"
In the news just the other day, scientists can detect sounds caused by the shifting and melting ice of Antarctica.